Quantum of Solace (2008)

It's like the director and editor have a new toy to play with. Frustrating to watch due to all the camera shake and 10 edit chops per second. I can't stand it when films are ruined by this sort of filming, it adds nothing and removes so much enjoyment.....

Seen this movie (4) times, still dont know what its about. Casino royale was better.

For 40+ years, from Dr. No to Die Another Day and Sean Connery to Pierce Brosnan, the James Bond formula remained basically the same: The gun-barrel opening, a lot of action, Bond says a few catchphrases ("Bond, James Bond" and "Shaken, Not Stirred"), Bond gets the girl, and the film ends with the James Bond theme pounding in the background.A few years ago, however, a new Bond (Daniel Craig) brought a new formula (prequel) to the Bond franchise with Casino Royale, a gripping film that satisfies action fans as well as provides all the traditional Bond landmarks (albeit some in their inaugural forms) as described above. As Casino Royale ended, audiences were left feeling as if the "Craig Bond" was well on his way to becoming the Bond we know and love.The trouble is, the ending of Quantum of Solace does the EXACT same thing...with little to no character development to back it up. For a basic plot summary, Bond spends the entire film trying to gain a measure of revenge for the death of Vesper, his girlfriend, in Casino Royale. A lot of fast cars, unbelievable chase scenes, and M-defying later, and supposedly Bond has reconciled his past and now able to move forward.Unfortunately, nothing particularly engaging happened during that time to make me believe as if Bond really is a changed man. I think the problem is that Craig is never really allowed to wildly emote in a vengeful fashion...he harbors the same stoic expression the entire film. I would have loved to have seen a Matthew Fox-esque emotive rant that LOST fans have come to appreciate, but it just never happened. The strange thing is that it wasn't just overshadowed by the crazy action scenes...those were pretty much balanced for a Bond film. Just no emotion whatsoever.Thus, while I appreciate this film's goal of trying to allow Bond to move on from his greatest tragedy, it just doesn't work. I would actually rather see a Bond film such as "Tomorrow Never Dies" or "The World Is Not Enough", installments that were heavy on the schtick and light on the plot, than this heavy film that didn't really get me excited until the Bond theme blared before the end credits.Die-hard Bond fans will watch this film regardless of what I say, but this is a movie that you can skip and really not miss any of the early-Bond character development that was so compelling in Craig's first Bond effort.

This is not the best Bond movie, but it is not the worst either. Ever since I saw it the first time when it came out to the cinemas I have been liking it. The reasons were the gritty tone from 'Casino Royale' continued here in this movie. But bleaker and darker in comparison to 'Casino Royale. The second reason is we saw a bitter Bond. He was hurt, desperate and out of himself. I could almost say Bond was pretty personal here, looking for the answers for why the lady he fell in love with died in front of his very eyes. No, we did not see the usual charm or elegance that Bond usually has in the movies, but that is refreshing. Ever since I have read the first four novels written by Ian Fleming, my views on James Bond had changed. In the novels he was much more complex and nuanced, rather than the dry humored, womanizing and charming Bond we grew to be used to. In the novels he was described as an alcoholic, cigarette smoking, drug abusing misogynist who was both intelligent and cold at the same time. Bond is also a very bitter man in the novels, so I think it is great to see him being as bitter as he is in 'Quantum of Solace'.The plot is pretty simple: chase down the Organization and find out why Vesper got killed. Now I like the simple plot, it made the movie much more focused. But unfortunately the story wasn't so good. It was sufficient, but it did not have the impact it set out to have. So the ending wasn't as emotionally charged as one would expect. I felt relieved but I also felt there could have been more to it. Some more emotional impact. But anyway, I think it is pretty neat it started with a vicious car chase. I was kind of dizzy after that. That intro was pretty exciting to me. Yes, the shaky camera can be quite annoying. But it gave me a pump of adrenaline so I would say it is acceptable here. Also the editing was kind of clumsy, it kind of felt like the editing was rushed. But it was probably just the shaky camera. Oh, the soundtrack by Jack White and Alicia Keys? It was interesting but it wasn't a good idea to mix White and Keys for the soundtrack. The movie ended up having a clumsy main theme. I think it would have been better with just Jack White.Anyway, Daniel Craig did a good job portraying Bond here. A gritty, hurt, bitter, sorrowful and vengeful Bond. We don't see him like that often. I think Marc Forster did an okay job with the movie, I really don't have any praise for him but I don't have any complaints either. But the script and story could have been better.Not the best Bond movie, but not the worst either. 7/10